It may seem scarcely believable but the London Borough of Westminster – with one of the most comprehensive public transport networks in the UK – has more public charge points than six major UK cities combined.

At a time when many businesses and individual motorists are being urged by Government to ‘go electric’ and select an electric vehicle for the first time, that bold statistic is nothing short of scandalous.

Latest figures show that Westminster has some 1,095 public charge points for electric vehicles. This is more than the number available in Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle combined at 977 and represents a national disgrace, and one Government should be looking to address with some urgency.

Allegedly, the Government’s priority this year and for the rest of this Parliament is to ‘level up’ the country in terms of wealth creation, employment and opportunity, with a focus on bringing the north of the country into line with the south.

But, at a time when many companies are looking to go electric to meet national and local sustainability targets, they are being held back by a lack of investment in public charge points across the North – and especially in our major northern cities which have some of the densest populations in the country.

It does seem that, away from the Westminster bubble, there is again one rule for some and another rule for the rest of us.

The need for a ‘levelled up’ charge point infrastructure becomes more pressing daily. The Government’s own deadline when the sale of petrol or diesel cars will be banned is in just eight short years’ time.

It is a state of affairs that is starting to alarm some experts. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, for example, is just one of a number of voices that has raised concerns about the level of Government investment in public charging points, saying it has not kept pace with the surge in electric vehicle ownership.

At Fleet Evolution, we recently carried out an EV attitude survey in conjunction with Aston University, asking motorists what were the factors most likely to prevent them switching to an EV from their existing vehicle.

The main factors that were identified were cost (36%), range anxiety (28%) and lack of public charging (25%).

In the survey, charging infrastructure came out as an area where lack of detailed knowledge was clearly apparent, with some 67% of those surveyed saying they did not live within five minutes of a public charge point.

In November, the Prime Minister announced that up to 145,000 charge points are to be installed across the country each year through to 2030 – a target that many people find questionable.

City councils need to step up to the plate and install the requisite infrastructure to support the growing numbers of EVs. Merely creating Clean Air Zones without offering sufficient charge points is simply kicking the can down the road.

The cost of charging is set to rise, given the hikes in electricity costs that we will all experience from April, and exacerbated by the Government’s recent decision to end the £350 grants that were available to install home chargers.

The Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme grant will now not be available to many homeowners in the UK from April following the Government’s decision to withdraw it.

The change means those who live in single-unit properties, such as bungalows, detached, semi-detached or terraced houses, will no longer benefit from a discount of 75% off the price of a domestic charge point, up to a maximum of £350. However, the scheme will remain open to homeowners who live in flats and those in rental accommodation.

When you factor in the well-publicised rising cost of electricity, the withdrawal of Government funding looks particularly ill-timed.

To help our clients, many of whom are happily funding electric vehicles under very cost-effective salary sacrifice car schemes, we can factor the cost of installing a home charger into their monthly rental, so spreading the cost over the life of the lease.

And to try and help businesses make charging more widely available, we are currently offering free installation of two-port chargers at the office car park of any customer with more than five of our cars on their fleet.

As more businesses look to return to work following a relaxing of rules during the pandemic, we hope that this measure will play a part in getting the country’s workforce mobile again – and in some small way help level up the charge point disparity.

Andrew Leech is the founder and managing director of Fleet Evolution.